WORLD PROPERTY CHANNEL ®

(NEWARK, NJ) -- Two big names in commercial real estate circles participated in the closing of a $108 million loan today.

Prudential Mortgage Capital Co. of Newark, NJ provided the funds to Kimco Realty Corp. (NYSE: KIM)  of New Hyde Park, NY.  Prudential Mortgage Capital is the commercial mortgage lending business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU).

The Kimco portfolio consists of seven grocery-anchored retail centers and one non-grocery-anchored community center located in Florida, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas. Constructed between 1967 and 2002, the properties total more than 1.5 million square feet.

Tom Goodsite, a principal in Prudential Mortgage Capital's Atlanta office, arranged the seven-year fixed-rate loan.

"We were delighted to work with Kimco Realty on this transaction, which was an excellent investment opportunity for Prudential Mortgage Capital because of the borrower's real estate expertise and the portfolio's strong grocery-anchored properties," said Goodsite.

"We look forward to working with Kimco over the life of this loan and remain committed to providing excellent service to our borrowers."

On another front today, however, Kimco received not-so favorable news.

Bill Acheson, an industry analyst with Boston-based Benchmark Co., cut his rating on Kimco  to "Hold" from "Buy."

Acheson says Kimco, a REIT, faces challenges reducing its debt amid a retail business slump. He says he sees "some pricing risk" for Kimco's stock. He cited "fairly heavy lifting" that Kimco has to do to reduce risks from borrowing.

Acheson also cited Kimco's efforts to refocus on its core business as an owner and operator of community and neighborhood shopping centers. He says that  process  "will involve the sale of a large number of the company's more eclectic noncore investments.

He adds,  "Given that the retail vista is still very tenuous at best, we feel that valuation is pretty full at this juncture." at this juncture."

New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Kimco owns and operates shopping centers, with owned interests in 1,466 retail properties across 45 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and South America, as of June 30.

Kimco shares rose 32 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $12.23 in afternoon trading.

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